Marty

If you listened closely enough, you could hear Austin say to Angle during the brawl "Is that Arn Anderson there?" (Kidding!) But yeah, you're right. When you're at ringside, it looks far different than when you're watching on TV, thanks to the different camera angles the WWE uses. I remember shaking hands with Billy Kidman after a house show match at ringside and thinking, "Damn, dude looks noticeably shorter than me." (I'm 6'0".) It's not always the case, as you pointed out with Big Show. I remember at the same house show, Billy, Chuck & Rico walked by me, and Gunn appeared to have towered over me significantly.

Bob Backlund

I'd be terrified FOR the old lady if that were the case. Remember, I live in Canada.

Remember in Loss' thread a while back about fat guys in wrestling and how they don't exist right now? Well, in that thread, Sek made a great point about how those guys are appealing to the average fan because of how they're built, so it causes the average fan to say, "Hey, maybe I can do that." I think Vince pushes Michaels for the same reason, only for old ladies themselves to say that. When the WWE said that they were trying to get older fans back, hey, they MEANT it. I don't know how overly successful they've been with this, but just the other day, I saw an old lady chuck bread crumbs to some pigeons at a park, and when one of them took off to fly, the old lady nailed it with a flying forearm before kipping up. Not sure what happened after that, but I swear I heard sirens as I walked away. I might've been drunk too. Who knows.

I need one of those puking icons. The level of suck in that match had to have been off the charts. Yeah, having seen the first match already, the only one of that bunch I have faith in is Graham-Backlund. The Graham-Rhodes match, which I've only really seen clips of, probably isn't nearly as good as their match in Japan that a couple people here have praised.

Highspots says the following matches are expected to be on there: - Graham vs. Bruno Sammartino from in Baltimore (1977 - wins title) - Graham vs. Ivan Putski from Madison Square Garden - Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes from Madison Square Garden - Graham vs. Bob Backlund from Madison Square Garden (1982) As for the future, I'm partial to them doing DVDs of Lawler, Slaughter, and Vader.

http://www.andrewtestmartin.com/

Drat! I truly was hoping Will was going to give a Rudo-esque recap. Sigh.

I like Eddy Guerrero's entrance at Halloween Havoc 97 before the Rey Mysterio Jr. match. In fact, I like it too much. It's to the point where I walk like that down a public hallway, down the street, etc. if I'm having a bad day.

I like, and miss, Bobby Heenan's commentary, circa 1991-92. From WrestleMania VII: *Slaughter gets a two-count on Hogan* Heenan: "You know, in Iraq, they only need to count to two!"

The last house show that we in Ottawa had drew a whopping 1,300, if I recall correctly. Not good.

I've been going through the WM Anthology boxset. I'm up to WM16, which I watched last night for the first time in a while. Some thoughts on the last bunch: - WM13: I think I like this show more than a lot of people do, mainly due to the midcard. Bret-Austin has been talked about millions of times, but the matches surrounding it weren't exactly horrible either. The street fight was fun stuff, better than a lot of the hardcore stuff they've done since, and may be Ahmed Johnson's best match with the company. The heels vs. heels tag looked questionable on paper, but with Bulldog still in quasi-face mode, he and Owen did a good job playing impromptu babyfaces, so well that Owen even had a solid portion of the crowd on his side. Goldust-HHH was okay, and I credit that to Dustin, as it was possibly one of the last stronger performances for him before he got out of shape. The rest of the card stinks, but that middle portion is quite fun. Far from the worst WM ever, in my opinion. - WM14: Still a damn good show to watch, with the cruiser match, mixed tag, HHH-Owen, dumpster tag, and main event all watchable->good matches. The other three matches stank, but even they had their positives, with the LOD going over (which got the crowd hot, so it was a strong way to start the show), the Rock's mannerisms, and the atmosphere early on of Taker-Kane. Call me crazy, but I'm still a mark for Taker's entrance here. - WM15: Everyone's made a point about Russo's goofiness with this show before, and I still feel that way, but the one new thing that stood out for me here was how this show felt very little different from a show of today, which isn't a good thing. Watching the IC title match, with Michael Cole calling a portion of the match with Road Dogg and Ken Shamrock in there made me truly realize how far too long the WWF style has been in existence and how the promotion really needs a shake-up today if they really want to hit a "boom" period again. I didn't think I'd get a realization like this from watching a show like this, but it's really amazing now how little has changed and how things really do need to change. - WM16: This show is really tough to sit through today. The main event, bad ending and all, really looks like crap today with all the outside-into-the-crowd brawling used to fill time. Watching it also reminded me of a short essay Loss wrote a little over a year ago about HHH-Maven on RAW and how Maven and all the faces with him were awfully heelish. I felt that with Rock and Foley in their doubleteams of HHH and how they also used somewhat heelish tactics. It's more forgiveable here, within the confines of this match, but if a first-timer watched this, they'd almost be clueless as to who the heels and faces are. Benoit-Jericho-Angle is tough to sit through too, because the match is generally a dumbed-down Angle-style spotfest, and the only guy in the match who's really over is Jericho, yet the announcers (well, Lawler at least) focus on Angle, which in retrospect, is foreshadowing as to who would get the push later in the year. Oddly enough, but not really, the most over match felt like the mixed 6-man tag, probably because the show was in LA and Eddy was in the match. It's not like that was a good match or anything either, but damn, 2000 was one of Eddy's worst years in wrestling, and yet, he was actually one of the better performers that night, even in a match that's one of my least favourites of his.

Just some quick replies... Goodhelmet: I never said Lawler-Helms was going to be "good" so much is it had the potential to be the best match on the show, which really ain't saying much. Honestly, I had no hope at all as far as quality of matches go. As for my take on the end booking, it does nothing to help Edge due to the out-of-nowhere feel of it, and the fact that they completely ignored the MITB stip for about the last half-year, if not longer. Loss is moreless 100% right here. Rudo really makes the best point, in that the title switch is only to make up for a shit show. I skipped the show, of course, but last night, at 8:00, I could've popped in my DVD of WM9 and got the same show, judging from reading the results.

It's a shame zero-to-little build has been given to Helms-Lawler and that it's likely just serving as a filler match. Those two, if they were given a good amount of time, have the potential to have the best match of the night.

I sometimes wonder if a lot of the legal stuff has to do with them going public in 2000. From what people have said, there was never any issues like this with the music with the original VHS box set done in 1999. I really gotta bug Meltzer about this sometime.

Sororities are known for being just as cruel in their hazing rituals as fraternities, they just aren't as blantant about it as the guys. Go watch Dazed and Confused, you may think that's over the top, but I know girls who were in very similar situations. Girls are definitely no better than guys when it comes to breaking in rookies, or whatever you want to call them. That, and an even cheesier example is Sleepaway Camp.

Demolition's dubbed theme kinda reminds me of "Grind" by Alice In Chains, oddly enough.

Yep, I totally agree. Instead, they, as world leaders, will seemingly work out agreements, then find a way to lie and stab each other in the back. (Sorry, I'm still bitter right now.) Women aren't perfect either. In fact, a lot of their faults can almost equal in value to that of men. I hate hazing myself, but let's not kid ourselves. (I can't believe I directed that post to LOSS of all people!)

(In more ways than one.)

- Flair's book - Both of Foley's books - Sex, Lies And Headlocks And a friend once got me one of SK's books and tore the receipt up as a sick joke. Thankfully, it was Christmastime, and his book was handy...as a firestarter for those cold winter days up here.

Warrior

*bzzzzt* Already mentioned, Spiff.

Billy Kidman

I caught a tad bit of RAW last night for the first time in a while. Along with his other health issues, is Kurt Angle missing some teeth too?? EDIT: Never mind. Someone told me he's wearing a gum shield. Still, looked really bad, especially with that graphic on RAW of his.